


did you know that she and henry were...?

by lonelyheartsclub_com



Category: Murder Most Unladylike Series - Robin Stevens
Genre: F/F, Period-Typical Homophobia, Period-Typical Racism, also poor verity :///, henry's black in this btw, i feel even worse for henry though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:55:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27616562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lonelyheartsclub_com/pseuds/lonelyheartsclub_com
Summary: henrietta trilling never thought she'd see verity abraham die in such a crude way. especially not at her mother's hand.
Relationships: Verity Abraham/Henrietta Trilling
Kudos: 8





	did you know that she and henry were...?

**Author's Note:**

> henry trilling deserves better

Henrietta Trilling loved Verity Abraham. With all her heart and soul. They did everything together. They had plans for going to Oxford together. They had plans to elope and get married in secret. They had plans to be together forever. 

Well, forever was never that long anyways. 

Verity stood at the balcony, and Henry was about to follow her out due to the fact that she had been crying, but Miss Griffin walked out. Henry stopped in her tracks as she saw them raise their voices at each other, and Miss Griffin put her hands on Verity’s shoulders. She suddenly felt very sick to her stomach and she watched Verity sob and beg and scream. She locked eyes with Henry and smiled one last smile.

And then Miss Griffin pushed Verity off the edge. Her long dark hair rippled as she fell, and soon Henry couldn’t see her. Verity was gone. Verity was gone. Verity was gone.

And she wasn’t coming back.

An ear splitting scream was ripped from Henry’s throat as she saw Verity’s motionless body laying there, blood fanning out around her head like a blood red halo. 

Matron was called up. 

Whispers of suicide were passed around.

Henry was whispered about in the hallways. 

“ _Verity and she were far too close. It was God punishing them_.” One girl said.

“ _She’s right there, you imbecile_!” Her friend reprimanded.

“ _Since when do I care? I hope she kills herself too and joins her little girlfriend in Hell_.”

Henry had considered suicide herself after that girl had whispered that one.

“ _Did you know that she and Henry were…_?”

“ _Dykes_.”

Henry had encountered that word several times. 

Her nickname was Henry, for God’s sake. People thought she was a boy, and when she turned out to be a girl they whispered it cruelly under their breath as she passed them. 

“Keep your thoughts about Verity and I to yourself.” Henry hissed harshly, grabbing the girl’s wrist. 

“Henrietta Trilling, you beast!” the other girl shouted. She then proceeded to whisper a slur under her breath that made Henry want to backhand her. It was the one that began with an 'N'. Henry immediately let go of the girl, who rubbed her wrist sorely. 

“Be very careful what you say about me.” Henry whispered before turning around and focusing on her Latin work, the words doing a little jig of sorts on the page like usual. She dug her glasses out of her bag and put them on. How could she focus when she had seen Verity be murdered by the headmistress?

She turned to her left, where Verity would usually be sat, laughing away about some improper joke the girl next to her had made concerning one of the Latin words and what it sounded like whilst twirling one of her long, dark plaits in her hands. But she wasn’t there. Henry had been allowed to sneak down to the ambulance and see Verity. She didn’t look like Verity. Her skin had lost all its colour and Henry could see the blood tangling her hair together as it dried.

The doctors had been trying to keep things hushed up, but as Henry stood there, in her dull Deepdean uniform, she knew exactly what had happened to Verity. 

There was a knock at the door and in stepped Miss Griffin.

“Girls.” The chatter increased. “As you all know, Verity Abraham has...left us by her own hand. Now, I don’t want you to be upset, but conduct yourselves as good Deepdean girls would. Now, may I speak to Henry Trilling?

Henry’s heart rate sped up until she could feel her heart thundering by her bosom. 

She got up, tears welling up in her eyes, knowing very well that she could be walking to her death.

Miss Griffin shut the door, and the slam echoed in her ears. 

“Henrietta, it has come to my knowledge that you saw Miss Abraham die.”

“I did, yes.”

Miss Griffin walked closer towards her, backing her against a wall and closing her long, thin fingers around Henry’s neck and tightening her grip. 

“You are to be at my office at 6PM sharp. I’m sorry it had to end this way, Henrietta. You were one of my favourite students.”

Henry burst into tears, taking gasps of air between the Headmistress’s strangulation. 

Soon, the bell went. Miss Griffin let go of Henry. 

“Also, write a suicide note. Your handwriting is going to be much harder to feint than Verity’s was,” Henry ran up to her dorm, tearstrucken. 

She picked up her favourite fountain pen and started writing. 

“Dear Deepdean. 

**I** am **w** illfully ending my life. I **a** m tired of living and **s** ince the death of Verity, it has **killed** me to live. **b** ut don’t be sad. **Y** ou will be okay. All I ask of you, Deepdean, is that you re **m** ember me. That **I** remain in your memory. **S** adly, my time on Earth i **s** over. I think it was rather **g** ood of me to keep going for the time that I did. **R** emembrance **i** sn’t just keeping someone in your thoughts, but it is passing the memory o **f** them **f** orward. **I** hope you take these words o **n** board. 

I hope you can find it in your hearts to forgive me for this and mo **v** e forw **a** rd. 

**W** e c **a** n only hope and pray to Chri **s** t at **t** he end **o** f the day I supp **o** se.

Sincerely yours, Henrietta Trilling. 

_I was killed by Miss Griffin. V.A was too_. Henry thought herself a bit of a genius for doing that. She had learned about it in English.

As she walked up to Miss Griffin’s office, she felt rather weightless. She remembered Verity and her’s plans to come out on their final day at Deepdean despite what people said. Henry and Verity’s parents knew for the most part, but they didn’t seem to care. As she walked up the steps, she thought of Verity.

Verity Abraham, who she met on her first day. 

_“I’m Verity, and you are?”_

_“Henry.”_

_“That’s an odd nickname for a girl. I quite like it.” She remembered how Verity had sat together in the hall and talked as if they had known each other for years._

Verity Abraham, the first person she ever kissed. 

_It was 3rd year and Verity had been crying because some girl made a snide comment about the two of them being as close as queers._

_“Would that really scare you so much, Ver? The two of us…?” She expected Verity to push her away and scream that a lesbian had touched her, but instead, she only said one thing._

_“No. It wouldn’t.” They had sat there for a moment in silence, and then Henry had gotten up and kissed Verity, who had slid her hands in Henry’s long, dark, tangled hair. They had whispered things under their breath to each other just before lights out, and Henry could’ve sworn she was in love._

Verity Abraham, the first person she ever loved. 

_The day before Verity’s death, she had been unusually sad. Henry had never told Verity that she loved her. But she’d been thinking about it for the whole week._

_“Ver? I have to tell you something.” she looked up, and her eyes were red and swollen. She’d tried to hide it, but Henry saw._

_“What happened?” Henry had locked the door in case any shrimps walked in._

_And so she’d told her everything about Miss Griffin being her mother, and how she had written home to her parents for no reply. Well, her ‘parents’._

_“Oh, Verity. I truly am sorry.” Henry had wrapped her arms around Verity’s shaking frame and comforted her, whispering words in another language._

_“Why do you put up with me?” she asked._

_And Henry looked her straight in the eyes._

_“Because I love you, Verity Abraham. Never forget that.”_

Henry reached the headmistress’s room and knocked on the door. She had a rope laying on her desk, and she barked at Henry to close the door after she’d walked in. 

“How could you? You were her mother-” Miss Griffin’s bony fingers wrapped around her neck again. 

“You have no right to say anything. I know all about how you corrupted my daughter with your...disease.” 

She knew. Suddenly, she let go of Henry? Was she going to let her go?

Then, she handed Henry a noose. Well, actually, she tied it around Henry's neck and motioned for her to stand on the chair. And she did. She tied the top of the rope to a bar in the headmistress's office, and she swallowed. 

Miss Griffin kicked the chair out from under her, snapping her neck.

She swore she could see Verity screaming in the corner of her vision as everything went black.


End file.
